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Journal entry, chapters 11-15 In chapter eleven, Holden goes out drinking and to have a good time at a bar. Although he asks for liquor, the bartender asks for ID. This starts a common theme within this book, the perception of others about Holden, the perception Holden holds for himself, and reality. Everyone he talks to asks him his age, and Holden always lies and tells them that he’s an adult. Everyone else has the perception that Holden is either really young, or on the borderline of becoming an adult. Holden himself believes himself to be a old and mature kid. The reality is that Holden is physically a teenager, but his personality is of a younger kid.
In chapter twelve, Holden takes a cab ride and asks about the ducks in the pond and where they go during the winter. I’m not exactly sure what this means. I think it might have something to do with Holden’s fear of growing up and changing, because the ducks go somewhere else during a few months of the year and Holden can’t understand why. I think Holden wasn’t really reliable as a narrator when he met Lillian. I’m not sure that she said, “tell your brother I hate him!” like that. That seems really out of character for her, as a former girlfriend. Also, I find it interesting that Holden believes that fame and skill are somehow “phony”. His low self-esteem seems to drive a lot of his rants.
The beginning of chapter thirteen was a little annoying, in my opinion. Holden nearly goes on for two full pages describing what he might do if he ever found the guy who stole his gloves, using circular logic until he gives up on the subject. He reveals that he thinks of himself as “yellow”, which means that he’s scared. He’s scared of conflict, he’s scared of losing, ect and he finds that fear to be another thing to be depressed about. He wishes that he can be braver, but his own limitations hold him back. He told another lie when he told the reader that he drunk a pint of Scotch and threw up because he made himself throw up. That’s a lie because if you drink so much that you throw up, it’s not because you made yourself throw up. He told us that to try to make us believe that he’s stronger than that. It’s in this chapter that he his depression gets so great that he starts to become suicidal. His depression made it so that he said yes to the elevator guy when he asked if Holden wanted to pay a prostitute for sex. After he went to his room, he was so nervous and scared out of his mind that he started to worry over his appearance. Then when the prostitute finally does come and is willing to have sex, Holden’s immaturity and fear comes out again and he chickens out. Later, when the pimp comes and asks for the money, Holden argues and later cries at the man and finally gives him the cash.
Overall, these chapters show Holden’s continuing downward spiral into depressing and his increasing unreliability as a narrator.
David Pozefsky
Journal entry, chapters 21-26. In chapter 21, Holden is left without a choice and goes home for some help. He talks about his parents, and mentions how his mother smokes. That could explain why Holden smokes nearly three packs a day. Of course, his anxiety and near-suicidal depression play a role, but his mom could’ve been an influence. His mom could’ve been a bad influence on him that made him start smoking. Anyway, he quietly enters his sisters room, “like a crook”, and sees that she is asleep. He goes over and looks at her notebooks and textbooks from school. He’s extremely proud of her intelligence, but I think that be may be a bit jealous. He secretly wishes that he could be like her, be intelligent and popular. In chapter 22, Holden wakes Phoebe up and Phoebe guesses that he got kicked out of school again, causing her to pout and get angry at him for failing. She states over and over again that “Daddy’ll kill you!” But why? Is their father so strict? Or is it because Holden fails every time he tries? Holden begins to talk and talk about how much Pency sucked, but he’s just making excuses for himself. He’s using his ideal self to cover up the fact that he just didn’t apply himself to his work. Then Phoebe says something that is really profound, which is that Holden really doesn’t like anything, except for his brother and sister. Everything else is just “phony”, including himself. He states that “just because someone’s dead doesn’t mean you couldn’t stop liking them”….which is a very true statement for him. Holden just can’t let go of the popular Allie, who died. Holden couldn’t protect him and he continues to punish himself for that. When Phoebe asks about his future and his career, Holden states that he doesn’t want to be a lawyer because he “wouldn’t know when he’s being phony”. His ideal self, the one who hates phonies, is keeping him from realizing his true potential in life. He could be truly his father’s son, but instead, he decides to wallow in self-pity. His dream job is to become a “catcher in the rye”, someone who will prevent and protect those who might fall off a cliff if they are playing a game. This desire comes directly from his inability to protect his brother, and his failure of everything else in life. He just wants to be useful to society, and this seems to be the only way that he can do it. In chapter 23, He calls his favorite English teacher, Mr. Antolini who is a former professor at NYU, to stay with him until Tuesday night. Holden has a cute little dance with his sister, and when his parents unexpectantly come home, he decides to quickly leave. In a kind gesture, Phoebe gives Holden her Christmas money. Holden can’t hold back his emotions anymore and begins to cry, with his sister supporting him. At this point in the story, I completely forgot that this story takes place in the middle of December, only a short while before Christmas. Holden’s pain and confusion just take over and he has no choice but to cry in his sister’s arms. I like how understanding his sister is. Not everyone’s sister is like that, I don’t think. He’s lucky to have someone who supports him so much, even though he’s a failure. In chapter 24, he goes to see Mr.A, and he and his wife warmly accept him. Holden and Mr. A begin to talk, and Mr. A is saddened to hear of his newest failure. He believes that Holden is going to fall hard and continue to fall. He makes a chilling quote of a real life Austrian psychologist named Wilhelm Stekel, who states:
“The mark of an immature man is that he wants to die nobly for a cause, while the mark of a mature man is that he wants to live humbly for one.” This is probably the entire theme for the book. This is one of the main messages that he wants to convey to the reader. Holden is the immature man, who’s hatred of “phonies” (his “cause”) will force him to die for that ideal. If he was a mature man, Holden would rather live to defeat the power of the “phonies” that he supposedly hates so much. Another theme is “educated men vs. creative men”. Holden is a creative man, while the teacher is an educated man. While the teacher can help society by teaching the next generation, people like Holden who are creative but not educated can create works of art. They both contribute to society, but an educated man (according to Mr. A.) contributes more. You know what? I disagree. Where would this world be without art and literature? Educated men depend fully on the creative men in the world for their knowledge, since it’s the creative men who can tell stories and creative wonderful pieces of art that touches the soul of a human. They are the ones who create imagination, something that this world cannot live without. Anyway, Holden goes to sleep, but gets creeped out and leaves when he finds the teacher petting his head. Holden probably just overreacted. The teacher was obviously very drunk and probably lonely. Maybe he feels that Holden could be his kid, since he doesn’t have one. In chapter 25, he goes to Grand Central and sleeps for a few more hours. He becomes more depressed then ever when he looks around and sees how far he’s fallen. Then he begins to experience his growing insanity that starts to take over. When he reaches the end of a block, he feels that he’ll fall and never get up again. He calls for his brother to help him when he crosses the road, saying that he “doesn’t want to disappear”. He then comes up with a crazy plan to bum ride after after ride out west and live there for the rest of his life. He tells his sister to meet him at the museum, and she comes with a suitcase, begging to go. This is a really sweet and heartfelt gesture that she does, and it’s the only thing that could’ve snapped him out of his delusional state. His desire to be the “catcher in the rye” and saving his sister from failing as far as he has prevents him from causing his sister to have the same fate as him. In chapter 26, which is basically the epilogue, he states that he went back to school and then went to the mental insistution and how he misses all the people he left behind. It’s kind of an odd ending. Let me just state for the record that I hate the Catcher in the Rye so much. It is the most depressing book ever created, and I can’t wit to leave it behind me. I hope I can find a day when I don’t feel so much like Holden Caulfield.
David Pozefsky Understanding the Media – Set 6 9/10/07
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.
Night of the Yule Ball – Hogwarts
We hear the Harry Potter theme as we see a shot of Hogwarts at night, glittering in the moonlight. Camera pans slowly around the grounds. The Womping Willow twitches its branches threateningly in the soft breeze. The camera zooms into the castle, where it’s busy with activity. Pan shot of the Main Hall – students walking and talking with various people. Silvery ghosts are seen drifting along from one side of the hallway and disappearing into the other side. The camera flies down a flight of stairs into a dungeon, lined with torches that cast shadows along the dungeon. Draco Malfoy, his cronies, getting dates. Perfect!
